1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to fuzes or initiators for use in spinning artillery and similar projectiles.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Fuzes for use in spinning artillery and similar projectiles are well known in the prior art. Such fuzes, which generally are mounted in the nose or base of artillery projectiles, came into use with the introduction of rifled ordnance. Tight fitting cylindroogival projectiles having rotating bands sealing the rifled bore and prevented the escape past them of the burning powder gases which, prior thereto, had been utilized to activate the fuze. The problem was solved by the adoption of a mechanism that is referred to in the art as setback. This mechanism employs a striker or firing pin that is located in a hole drilled in the longitudinal axis of the fuze body. At the base of the hole is a percussion cap and below that a powder train. Upon firing of the projectile, the percussion cap is carried forward with the mass of the shell to impact on the striker. The striker, being free to float in the hole, tends to remain stationary, that is, sets back. The powder train is ignited by the resulting flash.
Such fuze mechanisms lack safety provisions, however, and careless handling or accidental dropping of the projectile was likely to cause the fuze to be activated. Many proposals for solving this problem have been made in the prior art. These proposals typically have involved the interposition of a detonation inhibiting block between the striker and the percussion cap until disengaged by centrifugal force developed by rotation of the projectile in the rifle bore. In these fuzes centrifugal means thus control the arming of the fuze. The U.S. Pat. Nos. identified in the following are a representative sample of such fuzes: 1,250,919 J. P. Madden et al; 1,311,132 C. P. Watson; 1,342,652 F. A. Sullivan et al; 1,534,012 C. P. Watson; 2,068,708 V. R. Reed; 3,375,787 D. L. Swanson; and 3,839,963 G. E. Nathan. In general, these prior art fuzes that depend upon centrifugal means for arming are complex and expensive to build.